Excessive Tape Hiss??

  • Thread starter Thread starter jiggz
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jiggz

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Hi
I have just recently become a proud owner of a Teac A3440 4 track and i must say that i am quite concerned about the amount of tape hiss/noise coming from the unit.
I have thoruoghly cleaned the unit in all the appropriate places and i am using a fairly new good quality roll of Quantegy 456, but i just cannot believe the amount of hiss coming off the unit, it is totally unusable! :(

I have just compared it to my 2track Revox A77 using the same roll of tape and the difference is uncanny!!
The Revox only runs at 7.7ips max, yet it is completely silent compared to the Teac @15ips.

If anyone can offer any advise it would be greatly appreciated!!?

I must say that i have had the Revox serviced and calibrated for use with Quantegy tape so i presume this would make a difference, but being very new to this whole game i do not know what that actualy means technically speaking, so i have come to you guys and this great forum for some help if anyone can help?? :)

Jiggz
 
More than likely your machine needs to be aligned for the tape you want to use. It is very important to do this!

BTW is it new or used, because usually a new one is already set up for a certain tape type.
 
Thanks for the response!

It is a used unit.
I kinda figured it was probably a tape thing, i even noticed that it wouldn't completely erase what was on there previously, you could hear the old recording very easily underneath while the new recording was playing!

Bye the way, how do you go about aligning the machine for certain tape, is this a pro task for a technician or can it be done at home?

Thanks
Jiggz
 
It's a pro task. It can be done at home, but you'd need some expensive stuff to do it. Alignment tape alone can run $150.

If the erase head is not completely clearing the tape, then you may possibly have other issues. This might change once the machine is set up for your tape type. I would have the technician look at the heads as well.
 
Thanks a lot!
I feared the worst, i hoped i would get lucky and buy a machine that would not require servicing, oh well it will strengthen our relationship at least!!

Thanks a lot for your time Mad' :)
Jiggz
 
Did the machine come with the RX-9 DBX? The A3440 is really noisy without the factory DBX.
 
jiggz said:
Hi
I have just recently become a proud owner of a Teac A3440 4 track and i must say that i am quite concerned about the amount of tape hiss/noise coming from the unit.
I have thoruoghly cleaned the unit in all the appropriate places and i am using a fairly new good quality roll of Quantegy 456, but i just cannot believe the amount of hiss coming off the unit, it is totally unusable! :(

I have just compared it to my 2track Revox A77 using the same roll of tape and the difference is uncanny!!
The Revox only runs at 7.7ips max, yet it is completely silent compared to the Teac @15ips.

If anyone can offer any advise it would be greatly appreciated!!?

I must say that i have had the Revox serviced and calibrated for use with Quantegy tape so i presume this would make a difference, but being very new to this whole game i do not know what that actualy means technically speaking, so i have come to you guys and this great forum for some help if anyone can help?? :)

Jiggz
Click to expand...


Get it aligned and check that the heads are not worn out. They were a bit hissy, but not that bad.
 
Avalonpb said:
Did the machine come with the RX-9 DBX? The A3440 is really noisy without the factory DBX.
Click to expand...

This statement is incorrect. :rolleyes: The A 3440 is a old machine and could have bad heads or out of spec. But a good one is not Noisy.
 
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